After hashing out a settlement with federal investigators, an Atlanta-based company will repay 14 workers $354,978 in back wages for Navy information technology projects involving Camp Pendleton and other locations.

A probe by the U.S. Department of Labor found that clerical errors by Insight Global LLC — a staffing and consulting company — violated both the Fair Labor Standards Act and the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act. The projects involved Navy properties in California, Florida, Virginia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.

“When employers receive federal funds to provide services to the government, they must comply with all applicable laws to ensure that their employees receive legally required pay and benefits,” said Jeffrey Genkos, Wage and Hour Division Acting District Director in Atlanta, by email. “Violations can be avoided, and we encourage employers to reach out to us for guidance.”

The settlement deal was announced last week.

Enacted in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act establishes minimum wage, overtime, record keeping and youth employment standards nationwide. The McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act of 1965 mandates that contractors and subcontractors pay service employees no less than the wage rates and fringe benefits found prevailing in a community where the work is performed.

When combined, the statutes not only protect workers but also the companies that hire them by creating a level playing field for contractors bidding on federal service projects.

The laws also attempt to prevent the infusion of federal dollars into local economies from depressing local wages.

Department of Labor spokesman Eric R. Lucero in Atlanta told The San Diego Union-Tribune that in early 2017 investigators began probing reported wage violations at Insight Global LLC. They found that Insight Global failed to pay employees the prevailing wage rates for the work they did and erroneously categorized and reimbursed workers for computer operations when they really function as higher-paid personal computer support technicians.

The investigators focused on reported violations that occurred between June 2014 and October 2017, when Insight Global was a subcontractor on Navy projects for technology giant Hewlett Packard.

Although Camp Pendleton is a sprawling Marine Corps base, its commands often piggyback on contracts negotiated by Navy officials.

It was the first Wage and Hour Division investigation into Insight Global, which was founded in 2001.

Insight Global officials did not return messages seeking comment.

Labor’s Lucero said that federal investigators did not seek to debar Insight Global from future public contracts.

The firm’s website indicates the company has provided temporary help services, employment placing, computer programming, customs system design services and computer facilities management to a wide range of government agencies, including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Department of Homeland Security.

A Union-Tribune search through federal spending databases found Insight Global also landed contracts with the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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